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Tag: William Pile

It was essential for me to go to the tall ships regatta at Greenwich in September. As many of you know I have been a bit of a tall ships groupie since I first discovered them in 1993 at Newcastle. I tried from then on to see them somewhere each year as they made their way through the races and cruise-in-company legs of the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races, subsequently http://www.sailtraininginternational.org/.

I wanted to experience sailing on the Thames on a tall ship, to capture the feeling of what it would be like in the great days of sail when City of Adelaide graced the seas, and be amongst the sails of other great vessels as we glided past the Royal Naval College at Greenwich from Woolwich, where some of the participating vessels were moored.

I had the great privilege to be drawn to sail on Oosterschelde. The day was calm and sunny and we sailed through the Thames Barrier.

I chatted with the Captain for several minutes about the vessel and discovered she had been a cargo vessel originally.

I visited the National Maritime Museum and discovered City of Adelaide‘s builder, William Pile was not in the listing of shipbuilders in Sunderland. This sent me on a mission to find out why. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I met a lady called Cathy at Kings Cross on my way home. Her cousin Pam knows all about the shipyards. I have been to stay with her and spent many hours carrying out research and learning how to caulk under the experienced, watchful eye of Derek.

Today is the 150th Anniversary of the maiden voyage of clipper ship City of Adelaide. She was built in Sunderland by William Pile and left London headed for South Australia on 6th August 1864. Photo from Wikipedia.

William Pile and I share the same birthday – though I hasten to add, not the same birth year!

I was lucky to voyage with City of Adelaide on board heavy-lift cargo ship M V Palanpur, leaving Rotterdam on 26 November 2013 and arriving in Port Adelaide on 3 February 2014 after 70 days at sea.

Captain David Bruce was City of Adelaide‘s first Master and part-owner. Photo from Wikipedia.

I was delighted to meet Captain Bruce’s great-granddaughter Pam Whittle at a Reception to welcome City of Adelaide home, on board one of Port Adelaide’s cruise boats Dolphin Explorer. Pam is an amazing lady with two sparkling daughters, Meredith and Julia and all have become treasures in my life. This photo gives the scale of size of City of Adelaide, thanks to Meredith for sending me it.

… and here I am. I stayed on board Palanpur until City of Adelaide was off loaded onto the barge Bradley, her temporary home.